Necessity is in Paamuit in Greenland

Necessity
Eva and Jan Fr. Mack
Wed 10 Jul 2013 22:25
Our position is 61:59:80N 49:40:34W
The wind was slow at coming yesterday. When it did turn up, so did the fog. At that time we were closing in on the coast - and the icebergs. It is not a good feeling. The big icebergs are supposed to turn up on the radar, but that depends a lot on their shape. Some of them are very stealthy. That was proved to us when we approached one that we only spotted by sight 1-200 meters away. It was scary stuff. By turning the radar to almost max gain we could see an indication, but at such a gain we get mostly clutter. Fortunately we are now going to go along the coast and partly inshore. Necessity is going to move with great care.
Coming into Paamuit the settlement appeared very bleak. It was raining and it was between nine and ten at night. Not that it gets very dark, but the low light did not make the place look cosy. It was, however, a very good harbour.
This morning it looked different. It is a multicoloured small town, looking a bit like the settlements in Spitsbergen. People are very friendly. They are mostly Greenlanders, but also some Danish, and a healthy mix of the two. The language is Danish or Inuit and often Danish with a heavy Inuit accent. The latter can be hard to understand.
We have now checked in with the police. A friendly Dane took care of that. There are currently no other sailboats here, but there seems to be a few trickling through. Hans-Jacob is now going home for a week, so I will stay here and enjoy the sights. I will definitely take advantage of the walks around here that are rumored to be pretty good. I have been told that there are very few Polar Bears around, but I will take the bear spray with me in any case.
Jan Fr. 10.07.13